Dental Stem Cells - Why Preservation of Your Child’s Milk Teeth is That Important?
Those cute “baby teeth” (popularly known as milk teeth) are as important for babies and toddlers as permanent teeth are for older children and adults. Not only do these milk teeth help the child in speech, eating and appearance; but they also have a very important job of guiding the incoming permanent teeth growing below it, ready to come out of the gums to their respective positions.
Normally, a child has 20 milk teeth that appear anytime between 6 months and 1 year of age. They continue to grow until 3 or 4 years of age. When the permanent teeth are ready to come out, milk teeth make way for them by dropping out. The falling stars at the age of 6 years with the two front lower teeth. By the age of 10 to 13 years of age, a child loses all milk molars. However, these milk teeth have been proven to be an abundant source of stem cells. these stem cell research is now at the forefront of medical science and has led to advances in the potential to treat or cure a wide variety of illnesses and medical conditions which were previously thought to be “incurable” like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s disease, spinal cord injuries, type 1 diabetes, muscular dystrophy, etc..
Dental Pulp Stem Cells (DPSC)
Stem cells are immature, unspecialized cells that have the potential to develop into many different cell lineages via “SELF RENEWAL” and “MULTI LINEAGE DIFFERENTIATION”. They are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves through cell division, even after long periods of inactivity. Under certain physiologic or therapeutic conditions, they can be induced to become tissue or organ-specific cells with special functions. In some organs, such as the Gut and Bone Marrow, stem cells regularly divide to repair and replace worn out or damaged tissues. In other organs, however, such as the pancreas and the heart, stem cells only divide under special conditions. Given their unique regenerative abilities, stem cells offer new potentials for treating diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
Stem cells have the remarkable potential to develop into many different cell types in the blood during early life and growth. Each stem cell will have the ability to become 220 different cell types of the body such as Muscle, Nerve, Bone, Cartilage, Blood, Heart, Lung, Liver, etc.. Also, in many tissues they serve as a sort of internal repair system, dividing essentially without limit to replenish other cells as long as the person is alive. When stem cells divide, each new cell has the potential either to remain a stem cell or become another type of cell with a more specialized function, such as a muscle cell, a red blood cell, or a brain cell.
Stem Cells Are Two Different Types
- Hematopoietic Stem cells (Blood Cells)
- Mesenchymal Stem cells (Tissue Cells)
The various sources for harvesting these stem cells are umbilical cord, dental pulp stem cells, adipose tissues, bone marrow, etc.. Umbilical cord & dental stem cells have largely been successful because of their non-invasive procedures. DPSCs are mesenchymal types of stem cells present inside dental pulp which is the innermost layer of the tooth. The finest Dental Pulp Stem Cells are found in baby teeth or milk teeth. The pulp of exfoliated deciduous teeth have been researched extensively and have been found to contain mesenchymal stem cells that can be harvested and All of these cell types hold enormous potential for the treatments for various life-threatening conditions.
What Makes Dental Pulp Stem Cells So Unique?
- Dental pulp stem cells differ from other stem cells in many ways and score high in terms of therapeutic advantages like
- Dental pulp stem cells can differentiate into nerve cells, muscle cells, insulin-producing cells, etc. owing to their multipotency.
- Dental pulp stem cells have demonstrated interactivity with biomaterials, making them ideal for tissue reconstruction.
- Dental pulp stem cells are expandable and they can be multiplied under controlled conditions.
- Dental pulp stem cells are plentiful and easy to collect. Unlike harvesting bone marrow stem cells that require invasive surgery and cord blood stem cells that are available only at birth; dental pulp stem cells can be collected from milk teeth which would otherwise be discarded as biomedical waste.
What Are The Advantages of Dental Pulp Stem Cell Preservation?
- Dental pulp stem cell preservation has the following advantages, which are one of its kind:
- The duration available for harvesting healthy dental pulp stem cells is long since it can be done for children in the age group of 5-12 years.
- The collection of stem cells from the pulp of the tooth is easy, painless, quick, highly efficient, as it involves a simple process of extraction of the tooth.
- Easy retrieval process.
- Precious as public banks don’t exist for storing dental pulp stem cells.
Why Should I Preserve My Dental Pulp Stem Cells?
- Dental Stem cell banking is a golden opportunity for the parents who missed banking the stem cells at birth. On the surface, stem cells might seem irrelevant to you because you are not suffering from disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, myocardial infarction, Parkinson’s disease, type 1 diabetes, etc. But an individual may suffer from these conditions in the future given the current lifestyle conditions.
- These cells could one day improve or even save your child’s life. Storing cells today means they are available tomorrow and anytime throughout your child’s life.
- Your child’s very own cells are their only perfect cell match. Using their own cells means no rejection and no chance of contracting another’s disease or genetic disorder. After all, they are a natural part of them.
- The best cells are young cells before they can deteriorate through age or disease. Banking your child’s cells today preserves them in their prime, the best they will ever be.
- “Healthy and safe future is after all what we all care for”.
Conclusion:
- Recent research and growing evidence has demonstrated that the pulp of milk teeth are a rich source of adult stem cells. The current research on dental stem cells is expanding at an unprecedented rate. At present, stem-cell-based tissue engineering approaches provide the most promising solution. Within the next few years, these cells will be used to restore the form and function using autologous cells, thereby overcoming histocompatibility mismatch and transmission of viral disease.
- Due to its various reliable advantages over the other conventional methods of storing stem cells makes dental stem cell preservation an advanced and risk-free technique in the field.
- Therefore, medical professionals and parents should recognize the promise of the emerging field of regenerative medicine and the possibility of obtaining dental stem cells by conventional and noninvasive methods because the opportunity to bank patient’s dental stem cells will have a greatest future impact if seized while patients are young and healthy for future regenerative therapies that can be banked for autologous therapeutic use in the future for the individual and the family.
- If you want more information on how you can protect your child’s future health by banking their cells, visit us @ www.mothercell.com
Process of Dental Stem Cell Banking:
Preserve your child dental stem cells today in 5 easy steps.
- Enroll with Mothercell: Enroll your child with Mothercell by filling an application form and by selecting your convenient payment & Cryo-preservation plan.
- OPG Evaluation & Screening Report: Full mouth dental OPG (X-ray) of the child will be taken and a detailed report will be generated by the Mothercell team of experts on tooth exfoliation patterns. Based on the report tooth collection date & time will be finalized for stem cell banking.
- Tooth Collection & Transportation: Identified tooth will be collected by Mothercell approved dentist. The collected tooth will be transported in a specially designed kit box in ambient temperature to the world-class Mothercell laboratory based at Hyderabad.
- Process & Cryo-preservation: The sample undergoes a series of sterility, quantity, proliferation, viability, characterization processes before it is Cryo-preserved at our internationally equipped Dental stem cell laboratory.
- Preservation Certificate & Report: A detailed report of all the above tests and preservation certificate will be delivered. This certificate must be stored and produced for the retrieval of stem cells any time during lifetime preservation.
References:
- Human dental pulp stem cells: from biology to clinical applications. J. Exp. Zool. (Mol. Dev. Evol.) 310B:[page range]
- Dental Stem Cells and Tooth Banking for Regenerative Medicine, ELSEVIER REVIEW ARTICLE.
- International Journal of Research and Reviews in Pharmacy and Applied science , Tooth Stem Cell Banking -A Review, Clinton M. D’Souza et al, IJRRPAS, 2(2).423-428,
- J Indian Acad Forensic Med. October-December 2013, Vol. 35, No. 4 ISSN 0971-0973 378 Review Research Paper Dental Stem Cells: Harnessing Newer Possibilities
- Mao JJ, Collins FM. Stem Cells: Sources, Therapies and the Dental Professional. http://www.ineedce.com/courses/1486/PDF/StemCells.pdf .
- Bluteau G, Luder HU, Bari DE, Mitsiadis TA. Stem cells for tooth engineering. Eur Cell Mater.2008;16:1–9. [PubMed]
- Yelick PC, Vacanti JP. Bioengineered teeth from tooth bud cells. Dent Clin N Am. 2006;50:191–203.[PubMed]
- Mao JJ. Stem cell and Future of Dental Care. N Y State Dent J. 2008;74:20–4. [PubMed]
- Reznick JB. Stem Cells: Emerging medical and dental therapies for the dental professional. 2008. http://www.stemsave.com/Docs/News/Dentaltown.com .
- Nedel F, André Dde A, de Oliveira IO, Cordeiro MM, Casagrande L, Tarquinio SB, et al. StemCells: Therapeutic Potential in Dentistry. J Contemp Dent Pract. 2009;10:90–6. [PubMed]
- Peneva M, Mitev V, Ishketiev N. Isolation of mesenchymal stem cells from the pulp of deciduous teeth. Journal of IMAB – Annual Proceeding (Scientific Papers) 2008;2:84–7.
- 8. D’Aquino R, De Rosa A, Laino G, Caruso F, Guida L, Rullo R, et al. Human dental pulp stem
- https://mothercell.com